Frankfurt / Main (AP) - Passengers of Lufthansa can breathe easy: With a settlement agreed on Tuesday between the airline and the cabin union Ufo renewed strikes by the flight attendants are once off the table, as both sides after three days of talks explained.
According to Ufo, the Lufthansa Group has also agreed to withdraw various labor lawsuits against the division trade union. Also, it should already be the first improvements for career starters.
The union had threatened in the event of failure of the probe new strikes in various Lufthansa operations, after she had already prevented in the past week on two days about 1500 flights. The union now pledged a peace obligation to refrain from further industrial action until the end of mediation. About closer details and possibly even concrete conciliators want to report the counterparties only on Thursday at a joint press conference in Frankfurt.
The collective bargaining conflict is only superficially about expenses and allowances for the approximately 21,000 flight attendants of the Lufthansa core company. Lufthansa has not recognized the UFO leadership for months after internal leadership struggles and has also begun parallel negotiations with the competing Verdi union.
The question still arises as to which union will negotiate and sign collective agreements for cabin crew. Lufthansa had announced to speak alongside the UFO also with Verdi and the "Cabin Union", which was only founded on Monday. According to a UFO statement, Verdi's rights are protected as a minority union. Verdi could get involved in the processes, the company explained.
According to the principle of collective bargaining unit, the union with the highest membership in the union is supposed to agree on the tariff conditions. Ufo claims to represent more than half of Lufthansa flight attendants. So far, however, the majority ratios have not been counted.
For months, Lufthansa had denied the UFO board the right to represent itself after internal quarrels and had refused to negotiate with the officials. Ufo wants to 14 February next year have elected a new board.
Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr had thrown the tax around, in the failed situation, the personal interview with the union tips sought. "If we settle, it must have legal backing," Spohr told Lufthansa Labor Director Bettina Volkens.
Verdi had sharply criticized Lufthansa's extensive flight cancellations on the UFO strike last Thursday and Friday. Verdi expressed the suspicion that the "UFO e. V." association, which according to press reports was apparently under serious suspicion of corruption, should be made socially acceptable again. It needs a new, clear tariff.
As a first starting point Verdi has identified the precarious situation of the approximately 3500 seasonal flight attendants, who earn significantly less than the permanent staff. Ufo also demands that these employees are allowed to switch more easily to the traditional tariff groups. Already with the current agreement special payments for this group have been agreed, reported a UFO spokesman.
An initially required salary increase of 2 percent for all flight attendants had already been unilaterally implemented by Lufthansa, although it had not bindingly agreed to this as a tariff.
The Cabin Union claims to have elected on Monday a board with seven members, an equally strong advisory board and a collective bargaining committee with five people. It is an independent department within the industrial aviation trade union that wants to organize employees from all aviation sectors. So far, IGL has not yet concluded collective bargaining agreements.
